Ending a Marriage
ORC 3105.01 and 3105.64 — two routes, six months of residence, and a window with two ends
Ohio has two ways to end a marriage in the same chapter and they are not two names for one thing. A divorce is an action one spouse brings against the other and it needs a ground. A dissolution is a petition both spouses file together and it needs an agreement instead.
Who handles this in Ohio: legal aid programs, lawyer referral and the state offices, listed in the Ohio directory.
| The question | Divorce | Dissolution |
|---|---|---|
| The questionWho files | DivorceOne spouse, against the other | DissolutionBoth spouses, together |
| The questionWhat it needs | DivorceA ground the section lists | DissolutionA separation agreement both entered voluntarily |
| The questionResidence in the state | DivorceThe plaintiff, at least six months before the complaint | DissolutionOne of the spouses, at least six months before the petition |
| The questionThe hearing | DivorceAs the case proceeds | DissolutionNot less than thirty nor more than ninety days after filing |
Six months in the state, and the county is a separate question. The plaintiff in an action for divorce or annulment has been a resident of the state at least six months immediately before filing the complaint, and for a dissolution one of the spouses has been. Which county a case is filed in is governed by the civil rules rather than by this section, and the period there is not the same period.
Incompatibility is the common ground and the one that can be taken away. Incompatibility is a cause for divorce unless denied by either party. A spouse who denies it removes it, which is the only ground on the list that works that way, and it is why the other no fault route exists at all.
That other route is living separate and apart without cohabitation and without interruption for one year, on the application of either party. It cannot be denied away by the other spouse, and the year has to have run before it is available.
The section lists fault grounds alongside those two, including willful absence, adultery, extreme cruelty, gross neglect of duty, habitual drunkenness, imprisonment, a fraudulent contract, bigamy, and a divorce obtained outside the state that releases one party and not the other.
A dissolution has a window with a floor as well as a ceiling. Not less than thirty nor more than ninety days after the filing of a petition for dissolution, both spouses appear before the court, and each acknowledges under oath that they voluntarily entered into the separation agreement. The thirty days is a floor nobody can shorten by agreeing, and the ninety is where the window closes.
Both spouses appearing is part of it rather than a formality. The acknowledgment is of having entered the agreement voluntarily, which is the thing the court is being asked to be satisfied about.
Spousal support, the division of property, the allocation of parental rights, child support, annulment, and legal separation are each their own body of law and none of them are set out here. What a separation agreement should contain, whether a particular ground is made out, and what a particular case is worth are questions for a licensed Ohio attorney. The domestic relations court in the county holds the forms and the local rules for both routes.
Sources for this section (4)
- ORC 3105.03 — Residence requirement and venue for divorce and annulment
- ORC 3105.62 — Residence requirement for a dissolution of marriage
- ORC 3105.01 — Causes for divorce
- ORC 3105.64 — The hearing on a petition for dissolution, and its window
Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of September 2026. Applying it to a particular situation is the work of a licensed Ohio attorney.